NORAD Answers Questions About Their Annual Santa-Tracking Operation (noradsanta.org) 36
The North American Aerospace Defense Command is a US/Canada organization protecting the air sovereignty of the two nations.
But every year on December 24th, they also tell you where Santa is. From NORADSanta.org: The modern tradition of tracking Santa began in 1955 when a young child accidentally dialed the unlisted phone number of the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center upon seeing an newspaper advertisement telling kids to call Santa. The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, answered the phone and instructed his staff to check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole.... Each year since, NORAD has dutifully reported Santa's location on Dec. 24 to millions of children and families across the globe. NORAD receives calls from around the world on Dec. 24 asking for Santa's location. Children, families and fans also keep track of Santa's location on the NORAD Tracks Santa® website and our social media platforms.
The page lists the NORAD technologies involved in tracking Santa — including 47 radar installations and geo-synchronous satellites with infrared heat sensors. ("Rudolph's nose gives off an infrared signature similar to a missile launch...")
And this year NORAD also produced a special video highlighting the various military fleets protecting Santa. ("He may know when you're sleeping, he may know when you're awake... " it tells viewers. "But for 67 years now, when he takes flight, we'll know.")
More from NORADSanta.org: Canadian NORAD fighter pilots, flying the CF-18, take off out of Newfoundland and welcome Santa to North America. Then at numerous locations in Canada other CF-18 fighter pilots escort Santa. While in the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in either the F-15s, F16s or F-22s get the thrill of flying with Santa and the famous Reindeer...
Q: How can Santa travel the world within 24 hours?
A: NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa does not experience time the way we do. His trip seems to take 24 hours to us, but to Santa it might last days, weeks or even months. Santa would not want to rush the important job of delivering presents to children and spreading joy to everyone, so the only logical conclusion is that Santa somehow functions within his own time-space continuum....
How does Santa get down chimneys?
Although NORAD has different hypotheses and theories as to how Santa actually gets down the chimneys, we don't have definitive information to explain the magical phenomenon.
Do your planes ever intercept Santa?
Over the past 65 years, our fighter jets (F-16s, F-15s, F-22s and CF-18s) have intercepted Santa many, many times. When the jets intercept Santa, they tip their wings to say, "Hello Santa! NORAD is tracking you again this year!" Santa always waves. He loves to see the pilots...!
How many people support this effort, and are they active duty military personnel?
More than 1,250 Canadian and American uniformed personnel and DOD civilians volunteer their time on December 24th to answer the thousands of phone calls and emails that flood in from around the world. In addition to the support provided by our corporate contributors to make this program possible, NORAD has two lead project officers who manage the program.
How much money is spent on this project?
The NORAD Tracks Santa program is made possible by volunteers and through the generous support of corporate licensees who bear virtually all of the costs.
Corporate contributors include Microsoft (with separate contributions from Microsoft's search engine Bing and from Microsoft Azure), AWS (and Amazon's Alexa), Verizon, and HP.
NORADSanta.org also boasts extra features like an "arcade" of online games, a jukebox of Christmas tunes, and a library of online books about Santa. And the site even provides some technical data on the weight of Santa's sleigh — although the unit of measurement used is gumdrops.
But every year on December 24th, they also tell you where Santa is. From NORADSanta.org: The modern tradition of tracking Santa began in 1955 when a young child accidentally dialed the unlisted phone number of the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center upon seeing an newspaper advertisement telling kids to call Santa. The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, answered the phone and instructed his staff to check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole.... Each year since, NORAD has dutifully reported Santa's location on Dec. 24 to millions of children and families across the globe. NORAD receives calls from around the world on Dec. 24 asking for Santa's location. Children, families and fans also keep track of Santa's location on the NORAD Tracks Santa® website and our social media platforms.
The page lists the NORAD technologies involved in tracking Santa — including 47 radar installations and geo-synchronous satellites with infrared heat sensors. ("Rudolph's nose gives off an infrared signature similar to a missile launch...")
And this year NORAD also produced a special video highlighting the various military fleets protecting Santa. ("He may know when you're sleeping, he may know when you're awake... " it tells viewers. "But for 67 years now, when he takes flight, we'll know.")
More from NORADSanta.org: Canadian NORAD fighter pilots, flying the CF-18, take off out of Newfoundland and welcome Santa to North America. Then at numerous locations in Canada other CF-18 fighter pilots escort Santa. While in the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in either the F-15s, F16s or F-22s get the thrill of flying with Santa and the famous Reindeer...
Q: How can Santa travel the world within 24 hours?
A: NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa does not experience time the way we do. His trip seems to take 24 hours to us, but to Santa it might last days, weeks or even months. Santa would not want to rush the important job of delivering presents to children and spreading joy to everyone, so the only logical conclusion is that Santa somehow functions within his own time-space continuum....
How does Santa get down chimneys?
Although NORAD has different hypotheses and theories as to how Santa actually gets down the chimneys, we don't have definitive information to explain the magical phenomenon.
Do your planes ever intercept Santa?
Over the past 65 years, our fighter jets (F-16s, F-15s, F-22s and CF-18s) have intercepted Santa many, many times. When the jets intercept Santa, they tip their wings to say, "Hello Santa! NORAD is tracking you again this year!" Santa always waves. He loves to see the pilots...!
How many people support this effort, and are they active duty military personnel?
More than 1,250 Canadian and American uniformed personnel and DOD civilians volunteer their time on December 24th to answer the thousands of phone calls and emails that flood in from around the world. In addition to the support provided by our corporate contributors to make this program possible, NORAD has two lead project officers who manage the program.
How much money is spent on this project?
The NORAD Tracks Santa program is made possible by volunteers and through the generous support of corporate licensees who bear virtually all of the costs.
Corporate contributors include Microsoft (with separate contributions from Microsoft's search engine Bing and from Microsoft Azure), AWS (and Amazon's Alexa), Verizon, and HP.
NORADSanta.org also boasts extra features like an "arcade" of online games, a jukebox of Christmas tunes, and a library of online books about Santa. And the site even provides some technical data on the weight of Santa's sleigh — although the unit of measurement used is gumdrops.
can that system play global thermonuclear war? (Score:2)
can that system play global thermonuclear war?
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Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of theaterwide biotoxic and chemical warfare?
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Re: It's getting old (Score:1)
Youâ(TM)re going to be more interested in (Score:2)
The side project of this janitor with the mistyped directive/internal memo to track SATAN
You don't need NORAD for this... (Score:2)
Just follow @SantaJet on Twitter.
Unless Musk has kicked him off, of course.
Re:You don't need NORAD for this... (Score:5, Funny)
Just follow @SantaJet on Twitter.
Unless Musk has kicked him off, of course.
The NORAD Twitter account has been suspended for doxxing the location of Santa's sleigh.
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Just follow @SantaJet on Twitter. Unless Musk has kicked him off, of course.
The NORAD Twitter account has been suspended for doxxing the location of Santa's sleigh.
+1 Funny
Santa is proprietary bullshit (Score:1, Troll)
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they FINALLY answered my questions (Score:3)
Fundamental wrong assumption. (Score:5, Funny)
There is more than one Santa Clau.
So it is quite trivial for all the Santa Claus to go around the world in 24 hours.
Track Santa's flights, but... (Score:2)
...just don't post any of those "assassination coordinates" to Twitter!
Santa and the FAA (Score:1)
Last Fall he got a letter from the FAA informing him that he would be visited by an inspector for his quadrennial renewal of his pilot's license on October 31. He was, of course, nervous in the months leading up to the Big Day. He polished the runners of his sleigh, tidied up the inevitable dings he got in the paint job, and reviewed the
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not really. the current fat red clown with the magical sleigh is a quite recent american infantilization of an ancient european christian myth.
abroad the figure has many different representations with some more nuanced local traditions that can be interesting to preserve, but there's no need to re-import yet another inane consumerism exaltation figure. you can keep your santa ;-)
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He's obviously an American citizen, none of the other elves we've seen are that fat.
NORAD & Santa (Score:2)
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NORAD only concerns itself with protection of US and Canadian airspace. However, that doesn't mean it can't track threats worldwide - but prior to the deployment of massive amounts of satellites worldwide, NORAD had radar stations pointed offshore to catch threats entering US and Canadian airspace.
NORAD had a bunch of radar stations in Northern Canada pointed outwards (you may recall the DEW line
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Yeah Santa. (Score:2)
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spending millions of dollars of taxpayer funds
Wait - are you under the impression they actually put all those jets in the air for this? How are you able to simultaneously believe that, yet not believe in Santa? You are NOT getting good things in your stocking this year. Nothing but feces for you.
Ludicrous (Score:2)
If there was really a fat fuck violating the airspace, they'd shoot him down immediately, together with that animal with the radioactive nose.
Sorry kids, Santa DIES in 10 years (Score:2)
https://www.nationalgeographic... [nationalgeographic.com] He may die even sooner if this kid gets to him first:
https://nypost.com/2022/12/21/... [nypost.com]
Broken in Firefox (Score:2)
Why is this even here? (Score:1)